


Ghost and Stake (A long time alone makes a friend of me and you)

by Sasstenance



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anachronistic, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Child Death, Gen, Light Angst, One Shot, Ritual Sacrifice, Sort Of, and then turned back into not a ghost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasstenance/pseuds/Sasstenance
Summary: (He doesn’t see her.He doesn't hear her.No one does.But she sees them.)She's stuck where she shouldn't be, leftover ash in the wake of ascension.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Ghost and Stake (A long time alone makes a friend of me and you)

“Hey Ikibo. Do you think fish tastes good?”

“I suppose you wouldn’t know, huh.”

“...Neither.”

“Hey Ikibo? Do you think it hurts when they die?” 

Small hands plunge into the stream. The orange glint of a koi fish in the sunlight slips past her fingers. She pouts and leans back. She lays her hand flat on the long staff beside her and absentmindedly rolls it back and forth. Her other hand works at plucking up a pebble beside her, just like the two boys earlier had. Their rendezvous wasn’t as secret as they thought, but it’s not like she could tell anyone. Her fingers slip around it instead of finding purchase, and the pebble doesn’t budge.

“Ikibo? Who do you think hurts more? The ones that die or the ones that live?”

She pauses and looks down at the staff.

“Don’t look at me. I wouldn’t know either.”

* * *

“Boshiro-chan?”

It takes her a moment to react. A name’s harder to remember than she thought. Then again, she’s a good thousand years out of practice - long enough that she doesn’t even recall what her name originally was. She peers suspiciously at the girl ahead of her.

“Yeah… Benben?”

“Tenten, actually, but that’s alright. I was wondering about your staff?” She looks to the sharpened tip of the staff extending far above both their heads. She sounds eager. Too eager.

Boshiro grips her staff tighter, “ _She’s mine.”_

Tenten’s eyes go wide in a blatant stare. After inspecting Boshiro for a few seconds she says slowly, “Does she have… a name?”

“Ikibo,” Boshiro says shortly.

Tenten grins, like the cat that caught the canary. 

* * *

“Do you think those are heavy, Ikibo?” She sits by the logs, and watches. 

A man in a green bodysuit re-adjusts the straps on his leg weights only a metre or so away from her.

He doesn’t see her.

He doesn’t hear her.

No one does.

But she sees them.

“Do you think that hurts, Ikibo? How long do you think it takes for the pain to go away?” She mumbles. 

The man in green lifts his knee again, for the hundredth time, and kicks out at the wooden target. There are already splinters lodged in the weight, now spider-webbed with cracks. 

The target breaks. He starts again. He does it every day.

Sometimes he comes after dark, when the others are all asleep. More than one target is broken on those nights.

* * *

She doesn’t like this man. Neji knows him, clearly, and they look alike. They’re probably related. Neji is a surprisingly simple person, and by far the easiest for her to understand. Everything is clear with him - does he like you, does he not (he doesn’t). Does he approve, does he not (he doesn’t). 

This man makes Neji look confused. 

She doesn’t like that. The rest of Neji’s clan seems scared of her. They’re nervous of her. Suspicious and superstitious, Tenten told her. Apparently Boshiro sounds like some kid’s ghost story they have. It’s usually hilarious.

This man looks like some mix of surprised, fearful, and sad _._ He pays too much attention to her Ikibo.

He asks about Ikibo.

“She’s my friend,” Boshiro says, a little proudly, and gripping the staff tight. 

Something changes. His brows crease and his lips turn down and thin. She’d almost think he looks mad, except he looked mad before, and this is different. He looks like he’s realised something. He looks sadder now, maybe even pitiful, and it takes her a minute to think, but -

She’s heard of this. Gai told her about it.

“Your friend. ...I see.”

It’s grief.

She doesn’t like him.

* * *

She chose her clothes today. The people in the palace usually leave her something but today - 

Today is special. 

They’ve found a way to send her home. She’s gonna see her Mum! And her Dad! And Poppa and Gran and all the cats at home and she’ll go back to school!

Her friends are not going to _believe_ what’s happened.

She’ll be sad to say goodbye to the nice servants they have here - and the food. And she’s gonna miss the princess _so badly_. When she gets home, she’s going to make herself look just like the princess here. She’s so pretty!

The princess is even prettier than ever today. She’s been all dressed up - even more than usual - and has lots of colourful patterns drawn onto her skin.

The princess smiles at her and gestures to a circular slab of stone in the middle of the ritual hall. Climbing onto it and lying back, she can barely believe that she’s leaving. She can barely believe that she’s _here._ They said this hall hasn’t been used for years! And now here they all are for the first time, and it's for _her_. 

The princess says something. She doesn’t hear it over the humming that’s begun to ring in her ears. A man hands the princess something - but she doesn’t quite see it. It’s long and thin and wicked looking - sharp-tipped. A stick?

The princess steps forward and stands over her. There’s a smile, and the glisten of paint on skin.

And -

Everything -

Is -

Red -

_It hurts._

_It hu r t s._

_It hurts_

_Ithurts_

_Ithurts_

_It_

_Hurts._

The humming becomes a howl. She can’t even hear herself scream.

* * *

She doesn’t know where she is. Wasn’t she just at home? Or was it school? There’s no forest near her town, how could she have ended up in a _forest?_

There’s a crack behind her. She whips around, almost slipping on the leaf litter. 

A chuckle, “I’m sorry I startled you, child. Are you lost?”

Gods. She never seen anyone so pretty! 

“Your hair!” she blurts. Ah. There it is. Will she ever be freed of self-inflicted humiliation? What the hell, brain-mouth filter? 

The woman in front of her reaches to stroke the silvery strands - the same hue as the woman’s eyes, “I’ll take that as a compliment.” 

Cries of ‘Hime!’ echo into the trees from behind them. A conspiratorial glint reaches the woman’s eyes, “Tell you what. You help me escape them, and you can tell me what’s happened. And I’ll do my best to help you,” she hesitates a little, “do you… have any food preferences?”

A _princess?!_

She gapes. It’s all she can do to squeak out a quiet ‘mochi’ and take the pale hand offered to her.

* * *

“...Hey Ikibo? What do you think happens when this all ends? Like, when _everybody’s_ gone?”

“Where do you think we’ll go?”

“Are we gonna disappear, Ikibo?”

A sigh, “Why am I even asking you?”

“You’re just a stick.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! 
> 
> hopefully the timeline made sense being anachronistic and all. his is based on a character idea ive had for years, but never reeeaally worked on til Eirlys95 got me talking and helped me develop it lol. Might be expanded on later, might not be, im not sure yet. Big thanks for her help and to [Vaimeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaimeta/pseuds/Vaimeta) for humouring my need to have every single goddamned thing proofread.
> 
> If you liked it, let me know w/ comments and kudos :)


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